April has brought good news and bad news. On the positive side, we now have a buyer for the house in Cuckfield. In fact, we had two offers simultaneously. It’s a bit like the buses I used to use as a student in Newcastle – you wouldn’t see one for ages and then two would come along together!
On the negative side, I had a bad fall on Easter Saturday causing multiple fractures in my left foot. It was about 6.00 am that I got up and headed for the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Just beyond the bedroom door, my left leg just gave way under me and I landed in a very awkward position.
After taking stock of the situation, and realising I’d done something fairly serious to my foot, we set off on a new adventure. A call to 111 resulted in an ambulance being sent to take me to A&E, and there we spent the next 7 hours while I had X-rays, a CT scan, and then had a temporary plaster cast applied before being admitted to the orthopaedic ward with the expectation of surgery the next day.
My foot was badly swollen, which had to be dealt with before surgery so, beneath the plaster cast, they had fitted some sort of ‘bladder’ wrapping with a tube which stuck out through the cast. This would be attached to a suction pump on the ward, thus helping to reduce the swelling. It was some time after my admission before they set it up, and then switched it on. I was expecting a gentle, continuous squeezing sensation but, instead, there was a sudden contraction and release, like somebody suddenly grabbing and squeezing my injured foot. The first time, I nearly hit the roof. Twenty seconds later, when the second ‘grab’ came, I was more prepared, but it still hurt!
The suction pump remained on all night, and throughout the next day. If sleep wasn’t difficult enough wearing a plaster cast, the ‘grab’ on my foot every 20 seconds made it all but impossible. Waiting for the next ‘grab’ was comparable to water torture!! But it was effective. By the time I had the plaster removed, the swelling was hugely reduced.
By Sunday morning, the consultant had decided surgery was unnecessary, but I would have to wear an orthopaedic boot for 5-6 weeks. I am expected to sleep wearing it, which is interesting! Putting any weight on it is uncomfortable so I was given a walking frame (rather than crutches) and had to go through a physio assessment before they would agree to discharge me, so it was about 5.00 pm before I finally left hospital. The physiotherapist from the Community Neurology Team, who’d visited in March, said I should think about a walking frame; perhaps I should have listened!!
Our son-in-law, Tudor, was brilliant. He came straight round to help on Saturday morning, staying until the ambulance departed. That evening, he drove Doreen back to the hospital with some overnight essentials. On Sunday, hearing that we might have to wait hours for an ambulance to take us home, we asked Tudor if he’d pick up our ‘new’ car from home, and drive it to the hospital to pick us up. He hadn’t driven it before and said afterwards to Fiona that he was faced with so much technology that he felt like he was on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. I couldn’t help but notice, though, that he’d manage to link his phone up via Bluetooth so he could call us ‘hands free’. It would have taken me a few days to figure that one out!
And while on the subject of the helpfulness of people, in my last blog I mentioned the problem I had with an excess of wine that needed to be laid down. The number of people who replied offering to help was quite overwhelming. People have been incredibly kind and generous, but this one seemed to generate more offers of assistance than any other. I wonder why?